Austria's far-right concedes election defeat

Austria's Norbert Hofer on Sunday conceded defeat in his bid to become Europe's first far-right president, as projections showed he was lagging behind in the election re-run, reports AFP.

Greens-backed independent Alexander Van der Bellen swept 53.3 percent of the votes against 46.7 percent for his rival from the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe), according to public television projections.

Freedom Party lawmakers often have attended and spoken at events commemorating Nazis, including a gathering in memory of an Austria-born Nazi fighter pilot who shot down 258 planes, while Strache himself had been accused of using a little-known Nazi salute in 2009, which he denied.

Strache visited Israel this year and met with officials there. He said he supports Israel’s fight against radical Islam and has argued he has purged his party of anti-Semitism.